The US Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit on Tuesday upheld a district court’s preliminary injunction of an Indiana law requiring parental notification when an unemancipated minor seeks an abortion.

Indiana Code § 16-34-2-4(a) prevents a physician from performing an abortion for an unemancipated minor without the written consent of the minor’s parent. Section 16-34-2-4(b) does allow for a judicial bypass in which a court would allow a minor to receive an abortion without parental consent if the court determines the minor is mature enough to make the decision on her own or that the abortion is in the minor’s best interest.

A 2017 amendment of this statute added to the judicial bypass requirements. Section 16-34-2-4(d) requires that the parents of the minor still be notified of the pending abortion in situations when a court determines that parental consent is not necessary.

Planned Parenthood challenged the new provision and submitted affidavits from witnesses who stated that the parental notice requirement would be prohibitive to obtaining an abortion. The State of Indiana admitted no evidence and claimed that it was “self-evident” that the state had a legitimate interest in enacting this provision. The district court subsequently granted a preliminary injunction. The Seventh Circuit affirmed.

Planned Parenthood showed a sufficient likelihood of succeeding on the merits to support the district court’s injunction. The district court also did not abuse its discretion in concluding that Planned Parenthood satisfied the other requirements for a preliminary injunction.

The Seventh Circuit further said that Planned Parenthood demonstrated a harm and did not possess an adequate legal remedy. The court also agreed with the district court’s analysis of the balance of the harms and the public interest. Thus, the district court’s preliminary injunction barring the enforcement of the parental notice requirement is upheld.